There seemed like there was a lot of good things happening out there in general from the offense in the first half, but just frustrated by the turnovers a little bit?
Yeah, those put us behind and they took advantage of it, turned the ball over. Coach (Vrabel), he said all week we need to take care of the ball, finish drives and score points. But unfortunately we didn't, and that's what happens.
What happened on that fumble that along the sidelines, a matter of not expecting that hit?
No, I was coming off a broken tackle. I didn't see him hit me and the ball came out. That's all. I've got to take care of the ball.
How do you think this team should react, how will this team react, it's the first three game losing streak in a while?
It better. Like I said, it's going to sound like a broken record with me. What can you do? I mean, come make the corrections, learn from it. Put your gameplan together to go win a game and focus on that. It's over. Was a loss. Come in tomorrow and correct. Take care of the ball, take care of the ball. All you can do to is try to make it better.
Mike (Vrabel) said last week he thought you guys were at a crossroads of the season Collectively, it didn't seem like a very good team I mean, so today were you surprised by that?
Surprised by how, what do you mean?
Well, it seemed like all of you last week were saying, 'Hey we're definitely going to come back.' This was a definitive team statement and instead you got the opposite?
I mean, I felt like we just didn't do what we needed to do to be able to win the game. And they came out and played better. And like I said, we turned the ball over and gave them opportunities and put us in a bad spot. I'm going to hold myself accountable always. I've got to take care of the ball and do my job a little bit better, and just continue to work and make each other better throughout the week and try to win the game. But right now we have lost three, we just got to stay positive if possible.
Is this team still confident, as it was say a month ago, when things were rolling?
We definitely are. I feel confident. We just got to sustain, finish games, put drives together, score points and do the things that we know how to do. Well, we just kept shooting ourselves in the foot today and that beat us.
What has to happen, is that practice, the meeting room, mindset and a combination of everything?
I think you have to have a growth mindset, come in and make the corrections, learn from the corrections and let it translate on the field. I mean, guys come in and work hard each and every day and it sucks, sucks to lose. But I know my teammates and the whole coaching staff, we know the will to want to get better and go out and get a win. And I think eventually it will happen for us. You know, you just have a little adversity right now and that's all it is. And, you know, we will just have to weather the storm, keep working and everything will happen the way that it is supposed to.
Despite kind of a rough day all around, the running game seem to have some success today that didn't happen lately. Do you think there were some adjustments being made during the week that you can allude to that and something and something positive you can take away from this game?
I think just running hard and getting what I can out of every run. Offensive line did a great job. All those guys did a great job blocking. And I thought we were able to be efficient in the run game today, but it still wasn't good enough. And, you know, they won.
What was supposed to happen on that last fumble, was it a direct snap? What went wrong there?
Yeah, it was direct snap and it got a little away from me a little bit. I should have fallen on it rather than trying to pick it up and get back up because I've got to be better. So no excuses on that, just get on the ball and just get another down
How new of a feeling is it to you that the team feels like it's trending downward lately? You guys typically have always gotten better as the season has gone on and how frustrating and concerning is that?
I think that is leadership. Coach (Vrabel) always says, 'Culture is not built on when everything is going good.' It's built on when you're at your worst. Our culture is going to withstand when everything is going bad. I think leadership just needs to step up. I need to step up and, you know, just rally together, stay together. Like I said, we've been through adversity before. This one is definitely is tough. But all you can do is just make corrections, get better and go out there and try to win the game and work throughout the week, make each other better and continue to do those things. I know I've said that over the past couple of weeks, but, I mean, that's all there is to it.
The adversity that you guys had to deal with this week, you know, it was different, you know, with Jon Robinson. But how do you feel the focus was leading up to the game and even today?
Yeah, we were focused. We wanted to come out and get a win. We can't be worrying about what's going on outside and were focused on what was going to come out and get a win. We didn't. But, guys focused, had energy and we want to come out and do the best we can to help each other, and win.
So, when you say leadership needs to step up, how?
Stay positive because it's easy when everything is going bad to be down, and it happens every season. You go through this and that. But I think you just be positive. You continue to work. So the guys know, teammates, you know, we are still in it, do the work, everything is still in front of us. And we just got to keep getting better and have that focus mindset of what can we do to finish the season strong.
